0:02

From the secret cabal's North

0:04

Pole studios, it's the

0:06

secret cabal express. Today,

0:12

God, Chris and Jamie are celebrating the

0:15

holiday season by suggesting

0:17

a fun and great games that you

0:19

can give to your friends and family.

0:22

And now. Please welcome. The

0:25

secret papa. Fonders.

0:31

Hey. Now, kapollas, and welcome to

0:33

another episode of the Secret

0:35

Kapoll Express. This is Jamie.

0:38

Hey, this is Chris. And

0:40

this is Dawn. Every time 80 not

0:42

involved, I feel like I'll get to the Steve thing

0:45

for you. Make it He book ins it.

0:47

Yeah. I know. He's like, hey, Tony.

0:50

That's right. It's just funny because

0:53

everybody who is laughing asked. In

0:55

every one of our shows, they always

0:58

they they have that way of just, like, like

1:00

bookending the end of the opening like that.

1:02

And when they're not It's always very odd and

1:04

weird. Some plants are here, Don, to

1:06

pick up the slack for Steve. Just start

1:08

picking up the slack for Steve in the regular show

1:10

too. There's also a lot of mood that he's here.

1:12

Let's be honest about it.

1:15

Well, the boss I gotta say that I am

1:17

absolutely delighted that we

1:19

are idly. After one full

1:22

year of not having it, we're having

1:24

a secret cabal express and what better time,

1:26

but Christmas time. I

1:28

know. It's the best time of the year.

1:31

You get games. You get games

1:33

for other people. It is

1:35

absolutely my favorite time of

1:36

year. Let's tell that. Such a great time

1:38

to restart the express episodes. Right? That's

1:40

great. And have a conversation about what we're gonna cover

1:43

in express episodes in the upcoming because

1:45

we got a lot of time to make up for. Right?

1:47

We've definitely had some ideas. But

1:49

getting those express episode ideas out there

1:51

is gonna be

1:52

fun. I'm looking

1:53

for you to apologize for a lot of Steve's jokes

1:55

too, so we gotta make

1:56

this episode good. Hey hey, I found

1:58

you. Oh, who's that? It's me. It's

2:00

me that you're a Christmas outfit. I hear

2:02

you've been looking for some content to put a

2:04

show. Why I got some for you? Sam has

2:06

got some questions from up in the North Pole.

2:09

Uh-oh.

2:14

Well, alright, Alf. What do you got in mind? What does Santa

2:17

have in mind for us here today? Well, I'll tell

2:19

you what problem is, you know, that Santa

2:21

he brings gifts to all the different peoples

2:23

around the world there, and he likes

2:25

to bring board games to people that like board

2:27

games. And he's got us making all these

2:29

games there in the workshop, but he don't

2:31

know what games to make us make. Right?

2:33

Because he doesn't know which type of

2:35

games to get for which types of people.

2:38

So he thought since I do the announcing

2:40

every year for the Christmas episode that

2:42

he might send me down here fast you

2:44

guys since you're all the experts about board

2:46

games, what he should be making. Right?

2:49

That was a wise choice.

2:50

Actually, that's

2:50

a pretty good idea. I I'm certainly willing

2:53

to help, but you think done? Hey.

2:54

I don't know, man. I'm ready. Let's

2:56

do it. Alright. Dan Health tells what you need.

2:59

Alright, boys. We can't screw around any longer.

3:01

We gotta get the show a road. Santa's got

3:03

me on a timetable here. Now Santa

3:05

wrote down a whole bunch of categories for

3:08

different kinds of board games for different

3:10

kinds of people. You've done it in his journal

3:12

book yet. And he wants all this information,

3:15

so he knows what to get for people. Right?

3:17

You guys are the spokes who's coming to you. So

3:19

let me open up a sack here and look for his

3:21

journal book. Guys, do a little

3:23

bit of rummaging around. Yeah.

3:25

No. Not that and no. No. Not that well,

3:27

definitely not that link. Boy oh, boy, there's

3:29

a lot of shit in this sack. Holy

3:32

cow. There it is. There it is. There it

3:34

is. Alright. Alright. Let me see here. Okay. The

3:36

first category that he wants to hear

3:38

is must have board games

3:41

for board game enthusiasts. These

3:43

are games that you just gotta have in your collection.

3:45

Right? Alright. Let's do it,

3:47

guys. Give me the give me the goods. Alright,

3:49

Alf. We got you in Santa covered here. Board

3:51

games for enthusiasts. So I guess we can

3:53

start about thinking about what that exactly

3:56

means. Right? So if you think about an enthusiast

3:58

gamer, that's someone that sort of

4:00

been around the board gaming block, so to

4:02

speak. They've played a lot of games. Right?

4:04

It's 80 down to these have to be the real the

4:07

classics. The fundamental hardcore

4:10

relatively hardcore, not in a complexity sense, but

4:12

in a board gaming sense. You know, classic.

4:15

She sorta got a half. Right?

4:17

Got a first four hundred dollars for the collections

4:19

edition. Yeah. There

4:22

you go. That's good examples. Things that are out

4:24

like that. Well, I mean, yeah, I think that I

4:26

understand that's that's sentiment,

4:28

Chris. But don't think I agree exactly. I

4:30

think that we really need to focus on

4:32

games that if you're

4:34

new to the hobby or into

4:36

the hobby to the point where you call yourself

4:38

an enthusiast. Like, you're really passionate

4:40

about this hobby and getting into

4:42

it deeply. There's games out there that

4:44

you just gotta experience. It's kinda like if you're

4:46

a film buff you really need

4:48

to watch the godfather. You gotta watch Casablanca.

4:51

You gotta watch going with the

4:52

wind. You gotta watch rear window. Stuff like

4:54

that. It's like there's very specific games

4:57

that you really need to have under

4:59

your belt, at least to have played them.

5:01

And when I think of enthusiasts, right,

5:04

these are the people that have, like,

5:06

shells and shells of

5:08

board games and have board game nights

5:10

or go to game

5:12

nights at your, like, game cafe and

5:14

-- Sure. Sure. -- you wanna have

5:17

tried and true games

5:20

that fit any sort of

5:22

gamer so that when you go to those

5:24

places or you have those people over, you

5:26

can say, this game's solid. Like,

5:29

this game sucks. It's for you. It's

5:31

the

5:31

right, like, complexity. It's

5:34

it's just a perfect game. And there's

5:36

one that comes to mind immediately for me. Right?

5:38

We're making up the list. It was the first one I put on the

5:40

list. We've we reviewed it before. It's it's was

5:42

a later review than it came out because it came out

5:44

a long time ago. Sure. And that

5:46

is Puerto Rico. I think from an

5:48

enthusiast point of view, the depth

5:50

of strategy associated with Puerto Rico

5:52

combined with as we've talked about before,

5:54

this lower complexity 80. It gives

5:56

you a higher return investment in the gamer

5:58

sense. Right? For

5:59

me, at least, is the kind of game I could just play for

6:01

years and years and years. And many gamers

6:03

have done that. For good reason, I

6:05

think it's a I think it's a perfect

6:07

game to have on this this. This

6:09

was one of the very early euros I ever

6:11

played. I never felt overwhelmed

6:14

by

6:14

it. I felt that there was

6:16

just the right level of complexity

6:19

that a not someone who had never played a

6:21

gear game before. Right. Like

6:23

like was odor and liked,

6:26

you know, doing puzzles and mapping things

6:28

out. Could could wrap their brain

6:30

around. It's eight it's a gateway

6:32

game honestly. And I

6:34

don't even care. You know,

6:36

there's a lot of talk that Puerto Rico is

6:38

solved. Right? Mhmm. I hear people

6:40

say that all the time about this

6:41

game. They're

6:41

I gotcha. And turns. You know, I

6:43

I don't wanna play it. It's it's a

6:45

solved game. And you know what?

6:47

I don't I don't really care. Actually, the

6:49

fact that people say it solved is

6:51

a challenge to me. Mhmm. I wanna I

6:54

wanna beat that concept.

6:56

And I I it

6:58

is an absolute perfect

7:00

gateway game for

7:01

people. Yeah. I think so too in

7:03

regards to a perfect euro game gateway.

7:05

And as a matter of fact, it's the perfect time

7:08

to get this game because coming up very soon.

7:10

I don't know if you'll be able to get it by this Christmas,

7:12

but there's a brand new version of it coming

7:14

out called Puerto Rico eight 80

7:17

ninety seven, which they've retheamed

7:19

a little bit because Puerto Rico has been

7:21

in historically kind of a controversial

7:23

theme. Right? Right. Columbia is some

7:25

slavery's involved, that kind of stuff.

7:27

And Jason Perez from

7:30

the shelf stories YouTube channel helped,

7:32

Aliyah put this game together in a way

7:34

that Honestly, you could be

7:36

proud to have this one on your shelf now. The

7:38

theme isn't drastically changed, but it's all

7:40

indigenous peoples now working these different

7:43

plantations and whatnot. There's the

7:45

artists for the game are all Puerto Rican

7:47

artists, and that is just absolutely

7:49

fantastic. That just makes you feel good

7:51

about this product of Puerto Rico.

7:53

But like I say, that one's not quite out

7:55

yet. So you can still get the old Puerto Rico if

7:57

you want to, but I recommend actually waiting

7:59

to get the newer version. But that said,

8:01

there's a couple that I have in mind that

8:03

I think if you're a gamer

8:05

that really likes to get deep in the weeds,

8:07

really likes to immerse themselves

8:09

in the full Euro game experience. Through

8:12

the ages, a new story of civilization

8:14

from Blot de Gevato is probably

8:17

my number one pick for must

8:19

have board game if you're an enthusiast.

8:21

This is a big chunky long

8:24

game. This could take two to three hours

8:26

to four hours to play with

8:28

maximum player count. But boyo boy

8:30

is there so much content to

8:32

mine out of this one single box.

8:34

It's it's an absolutely gorgeous

8:35

production, great artwork,

8:38

and the gameplay is absolutely

8:40

fantastic. I will

8:41

say if you take if you take someone through

8:43

the whole a whole game or through the ages, I say

8:45

someone or a group. At

8:47

the end, generally, they're like, wow.

8:49

They realize what a great gaming is and how much there

8:51

is there to explore. Right? The

8:53

depth association is. And

8:55

that depth would be on sort

8:57

of you couldn't wrestle with it.

8:59

If the player aids weren't so good, there are

9:01

some nice player aids in this game too that

9:04

specify all the different actions you can do. And

9:06

man, when you sort of get in sync with that

9:08

game, you feel like an enthusiast

9:10

gamer because you are

9:12

you are playing what you feel is one

9:14

of the best sports games out there because you're playing one of the

9:16

best board games out there. And again, it was it

9:18

was groundbreaking for its time, and that's

9:20

been years ago now as well. It's an older

9:22

game

9:22

too, not quite as old as Puerto Rico.

9:24

But there's definitely a feeling

9:26

that you're playing something that really is

9:28

a quintessential board game for enthusiasts.

9:30

I wanna I wanna throw something in

9:32

here that I agree

9:35

with basically on principle.

9:37

Right? This is a game

9:39

that you need to have in your collection. It's a

9:41

classic. It if you if you

9:43

consider yourself an enthusiast and you

9:45

do not have

9:46

it, I I would reevaluate

9:48

yourself. And

9:49

if there's just Cardaway.

9:51

Yes. And I'm gonna throw this in here for

9:53

Tony. Uh-huh. And that

9:55

is a granola. Oscar.

9:58

This is in my

10:00

mind, even though it's not my

10:02

favorite, the quintessential Uvei

10:04

Rosenberg game. It is

10:06

much beloved. It's a classic.

10:09

It's played by

10:11

thousands and thousands of people all the time and

10:13

they keep bringing it back to the table. And

10:16

if you even care about what Tony

10:18

says, It's I think I

10:21

question whether he actually likes blood rage better

10:23

than a granola. I think I

10:25

think this might be his in

10:27

his

10:27

heart, his favorite game of

10:29

all time. Well, I I have to agree with you,

10:31

Chris, on this one because no

10:34

Hobby board game enthusiasts life

10:37

is complete without having

10:39

to deal with what we refer to as

10:41

the misery

10:41

farm. That

10:42

is part of the magic part. That's kind of

10:44

like a rite of passage for being a

10:46

a board gamer is playing a granola

10:48

and being so angry that you

10:50

wanna, you know, hang yourself.

10:53

But, I mean, realize

10:55

after playing it for a while, you know,

10:57

and getting used to it and learning it's ins

10:59

and outs, that it is absolutely

11:01

an incredibly well designed game, and

11:03

it's incredibly well themed as well

11:05

as being a farming game. So I I love it. I

11:07

think it's a great pick, Chris. Hi,

11:09

Delf. How's that? That's three great games

11:11

for enthusiasts. We got Puerto Rico,

11:13

but we recommend waiting for next Christmas

11:15

for that one. Through the ages, great game.

11:17

I think that one would be perfect. And

11:19

Chris' recommendation of Grigula, those

11:21

are some great

11:21

things. Saying I can get those for the

11:24

enthusiasts.

11:24

Why we Wow. Now that is what I

11:27

call a list, but the problem is most of

11:29

those games are really, really expensive.

11:31

And may take a lot of effort

11:33

to put that stuff together up at the

11:35

workshop. So maybe we talk about

11:37

some some budget games this

11:39

time. Let's talk about good games

11:41

for tight white people. How

11:42

about that? Alright,

11:45

guys. Well, we're gonna talk about budget games

11:47

for this certainly, Alfavars.

11:49

What do you

11:50

mean,

11:50

certainly? Yes. Savage old bastard. Okay.

11:53

When we talk about the

11:55

budget games, right, I

11:58

think a lot of times nowadays,

12:00

these games fit my

12:01

category. And actually, I think budget games,

12:04

a lot of them can fit some of the other

12:06

category categories.

12:07

Yeah. For sure. But

12:09

when I was building this

12:11

list, I tried to think of games

12:13

that were under forty dollars. Right? I don't think

12:15

that's a good that's a good bet. You want a

12:17

good game that's not

12:19

gonna break your bank, but is gonna be

12:21

a really quality game, you know. One

12:24

that an enthusiast would like to

12:26

have in their

12:26

collection. Well, in addition to

12:29

this being a great category for people who

12:31

don't wanna spend a lot of money, for

12:33

game enthusiasts who

12:35

usually spend sixty, seventy

12:37

five, a hundred dollars for board

12:39

games, get really good gameplay out of those

12:41

games, there's a lot of great budget games

12:43

that have awesome replayability and

12:45

awesome gameplay for the thirty and

12:47

forty dollar mark that means can get two

12:49

games for the price of one

12:50

essentially. Isn't that right? But I I

12:53

wanna point one thing out,

12:55

which, you know, when when I was

12:57

putting games in this category. And I was

12:59

actually comparing

13:01

how I used to look at

13:03

gaming and the board games I would buy

13:05

a lot of times people will look at something.

13:08

And and, I mean, it happens with Switch

13:10

Games for me and see the

13:12

price and the price is low. And

13:14

they think, it can't be that good.

13:17

But price is not a deaf definition

13:19

of quality. And I think

13:21

there are lots of really

13:23

great inexpensive games that

13:25

are equally as

13:27

good as your hundred dollar hundred

13:29

and fifty dollar games --

13:30

Yes. -- or four hundred and

13:32

thousand dollars like Dante's. Well

13:34

done. Let's talk about some of the target games

13:36

that we play. A lot of them are designed by

13:39

Prospera Hall. A lot of them are coming out

13:41

from Ravensburger and Funko games.

13:43

Yeah. You know, and they have themes on

13:45

them that are based on movies.

13:47

ET, the extra terrestrial, you got jaws,

13:49

you got you know, goonies.

13:51

And a lot of these games with

13:53

the themes that they have and the price

13:55

point that they have in the store

13:57

that they're in ten years

13:58

ago, we would have said that's a bunch of

14:01

bullshit. There ain't a way more than

14:02

that. Right? Exactly. Yes. But

14:04

they're

14:04

not in that way now. Garbage.

14:06

No. But now you play a game like jaws and

14:09

maybe it's fitting to be talking about jaws

14:11

in late December when, you know,

14:13

almost diametrically opposed from summer

14:15

time. Sure. And but Jollos, I remember

14:17

when we first played that it was like, you

14:19

know, whenever you take the card out and you

14:21

read it says, we're gonna need a bigger boat. It's

14:23

like, okay. They did something right here. They used

14:25

the quotes -- Yeah. -- the fact that it's in

14:27

two parts, right, where you have,

14:29

you know, the the shark kinda

14:31

sneaking around trying to eat swimmers

14:34

while, you know, Brody

14:36

and Hooper and Clint

14:38

are trying to stop him and, you

14:40

know, blow him up and do damage and stuff

14:42

like that. All setting up the second half of the game where

14:44

the the shark is systematically destroying

14:46

the ship trying to get to the guys. And they're

14:48

moving the different parts of the ship, very much

14:50

like Brody, right, being on that

14:52

last little piece of the ship. I'm getting really

14:54

excited just talking about it because thinking how

14:56

well this game sort of

14:58

models that movie. And, you know,

15:00

that's just an amazing game. And I know we

15:02

first played it. We're like, this is the most

15:04

manic yet affordable

15:06

and very playable game.

15:09

I think I've ever experienced coming out

15:11

of

15:11

a target or, you know, that

15:13

kind of store. It's just

15:15

amazing. I wanna touch on a couple

15:17

games. And again, these

15:20

these do fit in other categories. But

15:22

--

15:22

Okay. -- the number one for

15:24

me no. I

15:27

shouldn't say. The number two for

15:29

me is hot, and I

15:31

was introduced to this game.

15:33

Quite a while ago. And

15:35

then this game has a lot

15:37

of different versions, all variants

15:39

on aside from

15:41

the the the few little,

15:44

I guess, upgrade packs

15:46

that they have that introduce new insects,

15:49

that change the appearance

15:51

of them. And when I saw the

15:53

carbon version of this, which is all black

15:55

and white, I fell

15:58

in love and I have played this

16:00

game tons of time. It is a

16:02

great two player game. I mean, it's

16:04

really very chest like

16:06

and easy to break out. And it's

16:08

cheap. It's like thirty five bucks.

16:10

It's it's awesome. I think Jamie

16:12

actually introduced me to this game

16:14

Yeah. Absolutely. I think this game is

16:16

terrific. And, yeah, it is an

16:18

inexpensive game. You don't get a lot with

16:20

it, but what you do get is beautiful.

16:22

And the gameplay that you get with it is worth

16:25

every penny that you pay pay for

16:27

it. And you're right. It can fit in a ton of

16:29

different categories. It can be a stocking

16:31

stuffer game. It can be a an abstract

16:33

game for traditional gamers. Two player it

16:35

can be a two player game. Yes. So many

16:37

categories that this one falls into so it's like

16:39

a catch all perfect game for a

16:41

Christmas gift. And I

16:43

don't think that lots and lots and lots of

16:45

gamers have it. So I

16:47

think this is a good bet that you can get this

16:49

for somebody and they wouldn't have it

16:50

already. I don't see it around very

16:53

much. And honestly, I

16:55

I love it. It's beautiful on

16:57

the table. It's it's

16:59

got a lot of strategy, a lot

17:01

of back and forth between the other

17:03

players. Or the other player. And

17:06

I think it's just a solid solid

17:08

game for such a small

17:10

amount of money.

17:11

Mhmm. The

17:12

other game I wanna touch on because Jamie,

17:15

you and I you introduced

17:17

me to this game and I have

17:20

it and introduced it to many many

17:22

many

17:22

people, including Don, and that

17:25

is Dutch blitz. Yeah. That's

17:26

a great one. Much like the

17:28

Alba Twitch has now become the cryptid of

17:30

the secret cabal. Dutch blitz is

17:33

easily the card game of the cabal. This

17:35

is the one that I take to every convention with me and

17:37

have all me ready to play in a moment's notice.

17:40

And of course, it also comes from

17:42

Lancaster County, which is about twenty minutes

17:44

from us. So it's It's

17:45

perfect, right, for us. And correct me if I'm wrong. So

17:48

so I I was doing some research on

17:50

cost, and Dutch blitz itself for

17:53

the starter. Like, just the base game

17:55

is twelve bucks. Yeah. Now when

17:58

you play this and become infatuated

18:01

You're probably gonna wanna buy one

18:03

or two decks at a time. In

18:05

fact, to actually sell a pack

18:07

of two decks. Yeah. Because

18:09

you will ruin these cars really

18:11

fast. And Don,

18:14

you in particular are one

18:16

who looked at this game And I remember, you

18:18

thought, like, oh, Amish boys and

18:20

girls, this game looks dumb. Yeah.

18:22

Say those

18:23

words.

18:23

I don't know if you said those.

18:25

Well, it it was your general

18:28

gist. I

18:28

was like, I'm not sure I'm gonna enjoy this,

18:30

only to find out that I really enjoyed it

18:32

because of the frantic aspect of it.

18:35

Exactly. This game is

18:38

absolutely wonderful. Created tons

18:40

of memories of playing this

18:41

game. I have bled from this

18:43

game

18:43

because every

18:44

time I've seen you play this, you've

18:47

gotten injured in one way or another

18:49

man somehow.

18:49

Mean, you gotta be you gotta be you gotta be you gotta

18:51

be contact with your Dutch, please. Sid,

18:54

blood does not matter. You wanna

18:56

win. You gotta be on the ball. You

18:58

gotta beat players to the

18:59

stacks. I said you got injured. I

19:00

didn't say you won. Come on. Let's

19:02

not get crazy. Yeah. Judge Switch

19:04

is a is a perfect perfect game

19:07

and it's dirt cheap to buy.

19:09

One another one that I think is dirt cheap to buy, and

19:11

this one I'm gonna go into the realm

19:13

of miniature's gaming because

19:15

you know, a lot of people talk about, you know,

19:17

I'd I'd get into miniature's gaming if

19:19

I didn't have to pay the the

19:22

exorbitant cost Games workshop is

19:24

ridiculously expensive. All

19:26

the different miniature game companies are ridiculously

19:28

expensive to get into. It's a

19:30

very, very, very expensive hobby. But there

19:32

is one specific miniature's

19:35

game that is absolutely not

19:37

expensive and that is battle tech. And if you

19:39

go back to our last episode of of a

19:41

battle tome, we review battle tech, the

19:43

original battle tech, which is exactly the same

19:45

as it was, know, twenty, thirty years ago

19:47

when it was designed. Batotech is

19:49

twenty five dollars for the beginner box set.

19:51

You get minutes you get maps

19:53

to play on, you get the rules in

19:56

there, and you can obviously go to

19:58

the next level, which is the in the

20:00

battle techie game of armored combat, which is a

20:02

little more expensive, get you a little more miniatures, get

20:04

you a few extra maps, and gives you the

20:06

full rules. But if you just wanna get your foot

20:08

in the door with Battlefield I can see if you like

20:10

it, it's only twenty five dollars.

20:12

And it is an absolutely fantastic

20:15

game. We love battle

20:17

tech. Anybody who plays battle tech

20:19

falls in love with this thing and

20:21

it shows that A games

20:24

rule set has not changed

20:26

one bit. In the past like

20:28

thirty some years, it is an

20:30

absolutely fantastic game. You know that

20:32

it is. And the price point, you

20:34

cannot argue that it is a perfect

20:36

budget game for Christmas. Alright.

20:38

Helpful. I guess that's some good budget games for you. I know

20:40

that's a little easier for you to make up up

20:42

there in the work

20:42

shop. Well,

20:43

yeah. I appreciate that. I really, really

20:45

know. That's that's some good stuff. Now you

20:47

did say that you're making these games up at

20:49

the North Pole workshop. Right? Yeah.

20:51

That's what we're doing. I know that most games are

20:53

actually made by board game publishers. How

20:55

is it that you guys are making them up at

20:57

the North Pole when these other publishers

21:00

are getting their games made at

21:02

the, you know, Lutifact factory in Germany

21:04

or Panda Game manufacturing facility

21:06

in China. How can name be making the

21:08

games? And you're in the same games up there by hand.

21:11

Oh, well, you know how it works up

21:12

here. You know, we get these

21:15

lists of people that don't audio nice

21:17

and they want particular things. So we

21:19

we take the board games that come from, you

21:21

know, like all the different publishers out there and

21:23

we put them in these big computers and

21:25

we scan the work. And we have big printing presses

21:27

that we print things out and we put

21:29

it on the boards and we, you know,

21:32

knock out all of the meatballs in

21:34

the little wooden pieces and we got

21:36

paintbrushes that we paint them with different colors

21:38

and then we assemble them all in a

21:39

box. And it's saying he stops it in a sack and

21:42

he flies over else is fixing under your tree.

21:44

That's how we do it. I gotta tell you, Alf, that

21:46

that sounds a whole lot like what we would

21:48

call counterfeiting board games. And I know huge

21:50

deal on Amazon right

21:51

now. You can accidentally get counterfeit board

21:53

games from once group y list sellers. No.

21:55

No. No. No. No. That's not what we're

21:57

doing when that does. Count of hitting

21:59

board games. We're just taking board games that

22:02

aren't exist and reprint them and

22:04

stick them in boxes and bring them to your

22:05

house. For free, we're not asking you to buy

22:08

this stuff.

22:09

Sounds a little weird to me, but listen, you're

22:11

you're Santa Claus is elves, so I know you're not up

22:13

to no good. Well, of

22:14

course, we're not. Now why don't you shut

22:17

up about

22:17

Kukul. Alright. What about the next

22:20

category? What what are we talking about next

22:22

health? Alright. Well, a budget category was

22:23

great. It's a in there, but

22:25

I got a category that's made personal to

22:28

me because I got myself

22:30

a new girlfriend. And, hey,

22:32

yo, Mindy loves to

22:34

play games. need some

22:36

suggestions for two player games.

22:38

Wouldn't it be good for somebody? Would it where would I

22:40

have a spouse or a partner? Or

22:42

maybe you just got one friend in

22:44

the

22:44

world. This is some for him. Two player

22:47

games is a category

22:49

of games that I

22:52

desperately wish that I had

22:54

more access to, not the games, but the ability

22:56

to play them. Because back in the day,

22:58

when when I was coming up playing hobby

23:01

games originally, it was

23:03

pretty much just Steve and I playing games

23:05

together. And we didn't have a ton

23:07

of We didn't have all the access to all the

23:09

games we have now, but now that

23:11

we're adults, every time that we get to a game night, it's, you

23:13

know, you know, we have four people, five people, you

23:15

know, we go out to the public game nights and we

23:17

just never have these two player games.

23:19

But when we do have opportunities

23:21

for two player games, it's

23:23

such a treat. And we have come

23:25

up with some really, really, really great

23:28

ones and I know that we're going to be talking

23:30

about it coming up in the next episode, but

23:32

the number one that I've

23:34

most recently played that is absolutely incredible

23:37

is Fire and Stone the siege

23:39

of Vienna. This one is from KapStone

23:41

Games and it is essentially

23:43

an intro war game, an introductory

23:46

war game. One side's playing the

23:48

Ottomans who are seeing the city of

23:50

Habsburg and the other player is just

23:52

trying to hold out. It plays out on

23:54

a very small hex board

23:56

and combat are resolved in a very unique way with

23:58

a deck of cards with troops in it. And

24:00

there's a there's just a a huge

24:02

level of strategy and tactics involved

24:05

here. Each player has their own deck of cards that they're

24:07

managing. It's a absolutely wonderful

24:10

introductory war game. When I

24:12

say factory. I mean, like, if you never played a a full on War

24:14

game before, this is a great place to

24:15

start. Yeah. I heard a couple of people talking this

24:18

up at packs unplug. Yeah. And it was

24:20

enough that I picked it up. Oh,

24:22

you guys go. Oh, yeah. Our friend friends Matt

24:24

and Jenny said, yeah. This is something you could play with

24:26

Shannon. You guys would love it, and you were,

24:27

you know, seeing this craziness too and

24:30

something like, sold and try this thing out. Haven't

24:32

read the rules, but I'm gonna get it to the table. And

24:34

it just there's something very

24:36

intriguing about the the abstract

24:38

way in which that board looks a little bit.

24:40

I know that sounds odd, but, you

24:42

know, it it almost feels like those big maps where you

24:44

see the pieces moving around in the horror movies where

24:46

they're sliding stuff this big

24:48

map, that's what it looks like to me. So

24:50

that's kind of the vibe I'm getting off of it.

24:52

I'm intrigued, but I wanna throw something

24:54

on this list that is something

24:56

that I would actually consider a

24:58

game like, base version of this game should

25:00

be on every enthusiast list.

25:03

Oh. And is great for a lot of

25:04

people, and that is seven wonders dual.

25:07

Oh,

25:07

yeah. That's

25:08

a good one. Boy, everybody loves this game. I'm

25:10

telling you holy cow. It is seven

25:12

wonders for two players and there

25:15

so much back and forth. There's so

25:17

much strategy in

25:20

taking certain cards so your

25:22

opponent doesn't get it. Like,

25:24

I love sometimes the

25:26

denial strategy. This game

25:29

makes me wonder

25:29

frequently, do I want to

25:32

deny this card from somebody else because

25:34

it's gonna mess me up, or

25:36

do I want to take this other card because,

25:38

you know, it fits my strategy and

25:40

it's gonna be better. And the fact

25:42

that they have the the push and pull of

25:44

the military track -- Mhmm. --

25:47

is is this just such a wonderful

25:49

game? And if you love CEMAWonders,

25:51

this is a great

25:51

game. You know, I thought this

25:53

game was kind of amazing when it came out. I

25:55

still think it's amazing because seven

25:57

wonders do

25:58

sorry. Because the original game seven

26:01

wonders is very much not a two

26:03

player game. Yeah. There's a two player

26:04

variant you

26:04

can play out, but there's a dummy third player's

26:07

comma. And

26:08

stupid. And they distilled this down to two players

26:10

in a way that is respectful of

26:12

the original multiplayer game, multi

26:15

multiplayer. Right? Plays up to

26:17

seven. They did it in a way where it's a

26:19

new game, but there's enough

26:21

callbacks to seven one, there's enough similarities

26:23

It's just these kind of transitions amaze me because

26:25

it shows you the

26:27

the intelligence and and talent of

26:30

designers because you would take a game like that that I

26:32

thought there's no way you can get that down to a

26:34

playable two player game and turns it into

26:36

not only a playable two player

26:38

game, but a great two player game that in

26:40

my opinion rivals the original. Yeah. I've heard

26:42

many

26:42

people say that it's that they prefer

26:45

dual over the original.

26:46

The thing I love about it is it

26:49

gives me the feel of the

26:51

original in a two player format because

26:53

you're

26:53

right. Seven wonders by itself is

26:56

a horrible two player game. This

26:58

gives me the feel when I only

27:00

have one other person to

27:01

play with. I thought I'll tell you one that I I mean, it's timely. One

27:04

that I put on the list, and I've talked about a few times on

27:06

the podcast, and that's Die Stone. Right.

27:08

There are multiple iterations

27:10

of dive stone. The reason it's very timely is

27:12

because I just got a kickstarter delivered,

27:14

which is dive stone Santa versus

27:17

kampus. And I haven't played

27:19

it yet. But I'm gonna Steve.

27:20

It's kinda yeah.

27:21

He's he's missing. AFK,

27:23

baby. In any case, this

27:26

one is I'm gonna take this one out

27:28

on Christmas day and see if my kids will play it

27:30

with me. I gotta watch them play it. Right?

27:32

Some really nice components. Right? Some

27:34

nice metal dyes you can get through

27:36

the Kickstarter. But it very much proves that you can take something,

27:38

you know, a a set of mechanisms

27:40

as clean as in as nice as

27:42

die stone. And apply it to just about

27:44

any sort of one on one scenario.

27:46

And at this point, we had the original milestone,

27:48

which is original IP, We

27:51

have Marvel Die Strong, which has some great

27:53

characters, and they got Santa Rosa's

27:55

Campos. And there was

27:57

season two. There was all these is there so

27:59

many characters you can play against each other? They'd done die stone

28:01

adventures and and moved it out to, like, into

28:03

the adventure game realm. And one

28:05

of the things that about

28:07

this that I love is the artwork.

28:09

I just absolutely love the artwork on all

28:11

the components in all these games. As far

28:13

as two player games go, this is

28:16

like King of Tokyo, two player battling

28:18

stuff. I love it. I one hundred percent agree

28:20

with you

28:20

Don. And number one, it's got

28:22

Marvel involved now. Number two, you can get

28:24

it at Number three, it's not

28:26

that terribly

28:27

expensive. This is a no brainer gift for

28:30

just about anybody out there. Anybody

28:32

who likes games, got kids, you got

28:34

family, you got buddies, this perfect game. Right? Yeah.

28:36

Because it's so

28:36

accessible. Right? So, Jamie, I wanna know.

28:39

Have you played the the fox in the

28:41

forest? I have not, Chris, actually.

28:43

And mostly it's because it's

28:45

a two player trick taking game. Generally, I play trick taking

28:47

games with my wife's family, so

28:49

it's four of us. I rarely get

28:51

an opportunity to play two player trick taking games,

28:53

but I act actually would do it if

28:55

I had a

28:56

copy. Okay. I'm giving you my copy of it

28:59

because I love tricking

29:01

trick taking games and I know you

29:03

play lot of them. Yeah. And I think this is a

29:06

perfect trick taking game for two players. If

29:08

you like trick taking games --

29:09

Sure. -- and wanna play with one

29:12

other person, Fox in the forest

29:14

is amazing. I would

29:16

love

29:16

to try it. Yeah. This is all my list too.

29:18

Thank

29:18

you so much, Chris. That's really nice of you.

29:20

Alright, Elv. Well, that's some two player games. How does that

29:23

work for you? I think it works pretty

29:25

good. I think I'm gonna pick up

29:27

that fox in the forest, and you're talking

29:29

about so

29:29

mindy, and I could play it. think she's really gonna take

29:31

that. Alright.

29:32

Well, I'm glad

29:32

to hear it. I'm glad we can help you out there,

29:35

Alf. So what's in this next category?

29:37

I write boys. Now this

29:40

next one, Santa, he's he thinks this

29:42

is really, really important because he

29:44

knows that this

29:46

category has become very hot in the

29:48

past couple of years. It's all

29:50

about the lone wolves. It's about

29:52

those gamers that they wanna play

29:54

games so much that they can't wait for the

29:56

friends to come around so they gotta play by

29:58

themselves. Maybe it just don't got any

30:00

friends around and it's just you.

30:02

You gotta play some solo games. Right? So let's

30:04

hear it. What kind of games can

30:06

Santa bring? What a solo game

30:08

is out

30:09

there? Alright. So Sogou game

30:11

and easy to describe. It's a game that Chris

30:13

can play with all his friends.

30:15

Yeah. There's one that immediately

30:17

comes to mind and I'm gonna pick the lowest hanging

30:20

fruit off the lowest hanging branch off

30:22

the off the smallest tree in in the

30:24

whole orchard here and

30:26

say, Final Girl. This is when we sing the praises of many

30:28

times. And I think everybody

30:29

has. Final Girl is a, you

30:32

know, is a no brainer when it comes to

30:34

solo games. I

30:36

just love that game to death. I

30:38

I love the theme of it. You know, the horror theme

30:40

and the fact that there's so many components you can

30:42

miss and match as far as locations.

30:45

Final girls, villains. It

30:47

just it's the kind of game

30:49

that I could come back to over and over and over

30:50

again, which is renowned user for a solo game

30:53

for me. Yeah. I can't agree more, Don. think it's an absolutely

30:55

fantastic game. And it's

30:57

definitely a game that transcends its

30:59

theme as well. Because

31:01

there's a lot of people out there that don't like

31:03

the horror theme and there's a lot of

31:05

people that

31:05

I've, you know, talked to that don't like

31:07

the horror theme, that love final girl

31:10

because the game is so good. It transcends its own

31:12

theme. Okay. I wanna throw one in

31:14

here that Jamie, you and I both

31:16

love this game. And that is Nemo's War.

31:18

And we play this together,

31:22

but it is really kinda

31:24

built to be a solo

31:25

game. Right. Yeah. It is.

31:28

It

31:28

has to It's a

31:28

multiplayer variant, but it's just playing

31:31

solo with a buddy sitting next to

31:33

you.

31:33

Right. It's beautiful. And if

31:36

you like thousand leagues under the sea,

31:38

you should get this game. It

31:40

is it is a

31:40

wonderful, wonderful, challenging

31:43

solo game. A hundred percent, Chris,

31:45

I think that Nemo's war and final

31:48

girl rival each other

31:50

from first place for my

31:52

favorite solo gaming experience.

31:54

Both of them are very different from each other. Both

31:56

of them have themes I absolutely love

31:59

nautical and slasher villains horror

32:01

movies. So they're app they're perfect.

32:03

Like, there's no way that I can say one is better than

32:05

the other. The one that I am going to

32:07

present is the is the

32:09

game that made me enjoy solo

32:12

gaming. There were many years where I was like, I don't

32:14

wanna play a game by myself. I would

32:16

wanna bother setting up a board game. I'll play a

32:18

video game phone and play by myself. Well,

32:20

there's one game that got me to want

32:22

to play

32:22

solo. And that is Legends of

32:25

Andor.

32:25

I played

32:26

this game. Oh, good one.

32:28

So many times by myself because

32:30

it is such a cool adventure

32:32

game. You set that thing up, you're playing the

32:34

characters. It's like you know, like a cooperative

32:37

style game where you're trying to, you know,

32:39

stave off all the bad things happening and

32:41

running around and it plays so

32:43

well solo. I absolutely

32:45

love and adore this game.

32:47

And it's funny because one of the reasons

32:49

I played it so much is because there's that

32:51

middle adventure that is essentially

32:54

unbeatable. And I played it so many times and

32:56

I've never beaten it. And I don't think you could

32:58

possibly beat it. But who

33:00

cares? The other adventures in the box are

33:02

fantastic. It kinda has a bunch of expansions too that

33:04

you can buy that add new boards and

33:06

things. And so Even though it's not

33:08

a solo game specifically, it's a

33:11

game that can be played single

33:13

player like most games are these days. They're coming

33:15

out with solo variants and so on and

33:17

so forth. Or just coming with rules right

33:19

in the in the in the in the

33:21

rule set for a single player

33:23

play. But

33:25

Or was the one that got I recommend it to anybody

33:27

who wants to play

33:28

Solo, lone wolf in it. And it's a cool game

33:31

in that you think it's gonna be this hack and

33:33

slash kind of thing, but you realize

33:35

about three quarters away from your first

33:36

game. Man, this is a real puzzle. And

33:38

it's a,

33:38

you know, it's a puzzle to solve because

33:40

it's like, yeah, you can go killing all this stuff,

33:43

but Time is a huge resource here. So it's almost like you have

33:45

a limited amount of time and a limited amount of moves

33:47

to get done what you need to get

33:48

done. Right. And I love that aspect of

33:51

the game. I wanna throw last category.

33:53

This is a category under solo

33:55

gaming. And in particular, because

33:58

in researching this, I found one that, oh my god, Jamie,

34:00

this is right up your alley. And

34:02

these are all these different subscription

34:05

mystery services that you

34:08

know, you get a package every month. Asterias package company

34:11

is one that's great to send

34:13

to other people. Honda

34:16

killer is one that I've been playing

34:18

myself that I really like. But I found

34:20

this society of curiosities. 80

34:26

I was like, oh my god. This

34:28

is essentially Jamie

34:30

in every single DNDS. Was that

34:31

right? Game I played with him.

34:33

I have to look into this one, Chris, because I know that

34:35

I that we've looked into

34:37

mysterious package company before, which I think is

34:39

a fantastic

34:41

gift for somebody. Because essentially you gift

34:43

it to somebody and all of a

34:45

sudden things start showing up at their house,

34:47

packages of weird things start showing up at their

34:49

house. As a matter of fact,

34:51

our of the cabalists got it for their wife because

34:54

they heard us talking about it on the show, and

34:56

it scared them because they didn't know

34:58

what the stuff was coming to

35:00

their house that was very weird. Right? Because they're kinda

35:02

like trying to be mysterious about. Right?

35:04

Anyway, but this society of

35:06

curiosities I've never heard of, Chris.

35:08

So I'm very curious about a tabletop games that make you wonder

35:10

where the real world ends and the game

35:12

begins. Yes. It's

35:12

called. It is all about research,

35:16

like, researching artifacts and and

35:18

essentially it's like Indiana

35:20

Jones uncovering something

35:23

and researching it. That

35:26

sounds great. Yeah. I'm gonna have to check this one out. And like I

35:28

said, these are good gifts because they're like

35:30

fruit of the month club. Right? Except

35:33

for -- That's great. -- except for getting a game of

35:35

the month kind of thing. That's kinda cool. I like

35:38

it. Good call, Chris. That's a

35:40

great one. Alright, Alf. Well, that's some good solo games, and I think can

35:42

make sure that all the lone wolves

35:44

get out there. How about we

35:46

move on to the next category?

35:49

Alrighty. This one's one for Don and

35:51

Chris specifically. Because I know

35:54

that Don you got Calin and

35:56

Landed over there and Chris you got

35:58

Violet. You got kids at the

36:00

house. So what if I wanted to

36:02

say, buy gifts for you

36:04

guys? What kinds of games would you like

36:06

to have on to the trade that you could play with your kids. Now

36:08

Mindy and I, we don't got no

36:10

kids. Why do we just met? We just started

36:12

playing games together recently. We

36:14

ain't got no kids yet, but

36:16

saying it's got a lot of little kids and

36:18

pants on all his lists.

36:20

So, yeah, let's get

36:21

busy, but make with the list Come

36:23

on. Well, alright. I will kick

36:26

off with the kids stuff. I

36:28

have a daughter who is now

36:30

nine all those

36:32

ten. And I have played some games with her

36:36

that are

36:38

kind of either

36:40

lighthearted or

36:42

simple enough that she can kind

36:44

of, you know, wrap her head around.

36:48

Right? Honestly, because she is so artistic,

36:50

Dixit has been one

36:53

that she loved. It

36:56

it allows her to, like, explore

36:58

her creativity and say, you

37:00

know, okay, I can look at these pictures

37:02

and

37:03

I can see how this relates to the subject

37:05

and try to get other people up

37:08

to understand what she's

37:10

going for.

37:12

Dickson is definitely a great one, Chris. And there's one that I wanna recommend

37:14

to you and the cabalists as well

37:16

as Santa, I guess. It's called keepers

37:18

from fan writer games. Now,

37:21

this one is similar to Dickson in

37:23

in some respects, but it's got

37:25

some twists on it. One player has a card.

37:27

They described the card using one word, and all the rest

37:29

of the players are trying to play cards

37:31

that are either similar completely different than the

37:34

description that was given of that word. It's

37:36

definitely got vibes

37:38

of Dick's but it's definitely

37:40

its own game as well. And what I love

37:42

about this one, Chris,

37:44

is the artwork in this

37:46

game, is

37:48

all photography by one single nature photographer named

37:50

Byron Jordorian. And Byron

37:52

is a listener of the secret cabal.

37:54

And as a matter of fact, I just met him

37:57

at PACS unplugged for the first time a

37:59

few weeks ago. And I gotta tell

38:01

you this this is the the sweetest guy you

38:03

ever meet. He's so

38:06

talented. So talented. As a

38:08

photographer, these images are

38:10

absolutely beautiful. And I want

38:12

everybody to go check out keepers from van rider

38:14

games just because This guy's

38:16

story was so inspiring of how

38:18

he the way he told

38:20

it to me is he had this passion

38:22

and this love for nature

38:24

photography. Like, he was a photography. He loved it.

38:26

That was his favorite thing in the world.

38:28

But he had one other favorite thing in the world, and

38:30

that was tabletop gaming.

38:32

He would go out and play games with his friends and

38:34

whatever. And he was talking about how

38:36

these two worlds were separate. Right? And he

38:38

had no idea that they could

38:40

ever ever come together. And AJ from VanRider

38:42

Games brought them together

38:44

by working with them on this

38:46

gamekeepers. And, man, I gotta tell

38:48

you, it's It was just special

38:50

moment meeting Byron, talking to him

38:52

and getting to know him through the convention. And now

38:54

I got a new friend, and I'm so

38:56

happy about that. So check out keepers.

38:58

I I love it. It's cool and it's beautiful. And and

39:01

if you ever get a chance to meet

39:03

Byron at a convention at the VanRider Games booth,

39:05

do it because he is

39:07

a great guy. But keepers, Chris. I recommend that one

39:09

for you and Violet because you say she likes dicks

39:11

it. She's definitely gonna like this one and

39:13

you can't beat like having

39:16

beautiful artwork and animals.

39:18

Kids love animals. Right? Oh, yeah,

39:20

definitely. I'll have to. Anything

39:22

dicks it like like, mysterious

39:24

is very much like just sticks it, but I think it's just a

39:26

she has a little bit to go before she

39:28

gets to that. Mhmm. Chris, I like the

39:30

fact that

39:31

you, you know, you suggested actual

39:33

game young kids can play. I if I had a nickel

39:36

for every time I talk to somebody, I mean, like, yeah. Why don't you

39:38

play with your young kids? I'm

39:39

like, well, they're pretty advanced. We play war of

39:41

the ring. I'm like, really? Your kid's

39:43

like seven years old, man. I'll tell you this,

39:45

Don. I played with my nine

39:47

year old niece

39:49

the other day, ticket to ride. And

39:51

-- Yep. -- she kicked

39:53

my ass. I'm

39:54

not kidding. And

39:55

and, like, at the end of the

39:56

game, I said, I looked at her and I

39:58

said, Kora, I was trying to beat you

40:01

here and you beat me by like

40:03

fifteen or twenty points. Like, I

40:05

was so proud of her because

40:07

she just She annihilated me. And I was like, this is

40:09

great. This is terrific. She's nine years old and

40:11

she beat me at a game that I

40:13

almost never lose at this

40:14

point, take their ticket to ride. Did

40:17

you do it? My it trash you after you say, hey. Yeah.

40:19

There's more that came from. Why don't

40:21

you grab another one of those pain

40:23

pills off the off

40:25

the shelf there? Grand pole. You you know, they asked me to

40:27

take home, which I'm

40:29

gonna throw out a game that I spoke

40:32

about in a couple episodes ago, and

40:34

that is

40:36

80 paw. Right? Mhmm. And this

40:39

game is very goofy. It

40:41

requires a lot of

40:44

making goofy hand gestures

40:46

and saying goofy words

40:48

and it is at

40:50

its heart a very

40:53

spatial relations salad game. You're

40:56

essentially draw getting

40:58

these cat tiles and you're

41:00

trying to

41:01

put them in the same

41:04

shape that is on your card.

41:06

And like you

41:08

said, with with your knees.

41:10

Like, my daughter kicks my

41:12

butt at this game

41:14

every time. And and the fact

41:16

that it has all those goofy, like

41:18

hand gestures and things you have

41:20

to say. It really

41:22

she just loves that kind of stuff.

41:25

Right?

41:25

Absolutely. And, Chris, I recommend checking out a

41:27

game called Boop, which they just released

41:30

to hacks

41:30

themselves as well. This is another

41:32

cat game. And

41:34

the box that it comes in

41:36

looks like a bed, and inside the

41:38

box is a little plush mattress that

41:40

you put on the bed. And then

41:42

you have all these cat meatballs that you put on top of it. And the idea is

41:45

that it's sort of a little abstract game where

41:47

whenever you place a meatball of

41:49

a cat down, it pushes all the other cats in

41:51

different directions. So you're booping them and you're trying

41:54

to knock them off the bed. So the

41:56

the r

41:58

inch cats are trying to knock the gray cats off the bed in vice versa.

42:00

It's a very small of that.

42:02

Beautifully cute game, but it

42:04

is a thinky game too. It's not

42:07

just a dumb, you know, frivolous game. It's got a little bit of

42:09

strategy there

42:09

too. It's it's a really cool game. I I checked that out.

42:11

It's called boop.

42:14

I tell you when my kids were younger, we used to get a lot of out

42:16

of King of Tokyo. That was something we really

42:18

liked. Again, it sort of

42:20

has that dice on that triple

42:23

Rolled Mechanic -- Yeah. -- where you you

42:25

keep some dice and reroll some dice. And they really

42:27

like that. And it and the cool thing is, as

42:29

you as you suggest it with your knees core, it's like,

42:31

they could play this game and just kill you at it because they

42:33

made the side on a whim. I'm just gonna do

42:36

all damage all the time. And they just

42:38

roll great and it's like, man,

42:40

you just blowing my monster up for no reason. Yeah. But I say

42:42

for no

42:42

reason,

42:42

we're all fighting over the same stuff. But in any

42:44

case, that that that was a good one when my

42:47

kids were smaller.

42:48

Now, My kids are not smaller anymore. Right. They're older now. And

42:50

so they are, you know, middle to upper teenagers. So

42:52

now the question I would think about is, okay.

42:54

When we talk about kids, what

42:57

kind of games would you have for those older kids? I

42:59

have found that, you know, this this

43:01

is a good time to sort of introduce those

43:03

games where you're where you're solving puzzles together. We haven't

43:05

talked about escape room games yet, but I know my

43:07

teenagers enjoy those escape

43:10

room games. Escaped through

43:12

the game and the unlocked series or two that

43:14

come to mind real quick because, you know,

43:16

everybody can sort of they really get a kick

43:18

out of sort of being at that same

43:20

level of solving

43:22

problems, you know, as

43:25

as the enthusiast gamers at the

43:27

table. So they really they really

43:29

enjoyed that that know that aspect of it. Well, Donna, I know

43:31

that you say that they love the escape room games, and I know that you've

43:33

played the initiative with them before, which is

43:36

another puzzling kind

43:38

of game. Now they're not

43:40

the same type of thing,

43:42

but I always liken them

43:44

together. Do you think your kids would also

43:46

like the detective style games

43:48

as well? Linger product was a crime, like a detective of a modern crime board

43:50

game, you know, that kind of stuff.

43:52

Sherlock Holmes is consulting detective. That kind

43:54

of They

43:54

do. I'll start to get a holiday and

43:57

but I wasn't sure. It it because it's not exactly

43:59

the same genre, but they really love that

44:01

too because we're solving that puzzle together.

44:04

Mhmm. And they really like talking through

44:06

this. Oh, but this character can know about this character can sort of that

44:08

puzzle together. This seems like an h

44:10

where they're, you know, they're operating at

44:12

mentally pretty much an adult level,

44:14

but they're

44:16

really figuring out how to solve problems and make connections in new ways.

44:18

And those kind of games help out with that a

44:20

lot. I've enjoyed playing those with

44:21

them, and they've enjoyed playing them quite a

44:23

bit as well.

44:24

That's good that they're thinking at a at an adult level

44:26

there, Don, because they're they're they're starting to take up the slack

44:29

for you losing that capability. Sure.

44:32

That's right. It's

44:34

a steep 80. I've laid it straight down. Why why they

44:36

hear that they like those done? Because this is some

44:38

of my favorites as well. I'll tell you other

44:40

games that that fall in this category I

44:43

found my kids like. What teenagers like to

44:45

do more in line, not much. So games where you can sort of

44:47

mislead other people. My son is a big fan

44:49

of coup. Right? You can sort of tell a lie

44:51

about which cards

44:53

you have on the table in front

44:55

of you. And that's,

44:55

like, sort of, fun. I'll

44:57

tell you, man, you don't wanna go against a a

45:00

clam of maggots. up.

45:03

Throw a Jamie cake cakey in

45:05

there and it gets even

45:06

worse, man. Oh, bunch freaking liars.

45:09

That's right. So so if you if

45:11

if you're not so much about,

45:13

you know, communicating principles to

45:15

your kids and and and endorsing things

45:17

like

45:17

lying. Who might be a good a good game for

45:20

you? Well,

45:20

I gotta tell you, that'll get you on

45:22

same as naughty less real fast.

45:26

Well, I gotta tell you this next category that I want you to talk about is

45:28

one that I absolutely love. And the reason I

45:30

love it is because I love to have people

45:32

over my house. I love to have all the

45:35

l's and the rain day and the snowman and all

45:37

that shit come over my house. I put a big

45:39

old pig on the table, whereby eating and I

45:41

have a good time cookies and ice

45:43

cream and and the act nogs got so much bourbon and he can't

45:45

even stand up straight at the end of the night. I wanna

45:47

be playing a bunch of games, so potty games.

45:49

Potty games are great for a big

45:51

group of people and Santa wants to

45:53

know all about the potty games. So why don't you give me a list some of your

45:56

favorite recommendations for potty games that

45:58

we can stick out of

46:00

the tree?

46:01

Alright. Well, let's get the party started here.

46:04

I love these kind of games

46:06

because the people I love playing them with are

46:08

the ones that are willing to leave. A lot of these

46:10

categories you've talked about already behind,

46:12

especially the enthusiast gamers. And the best

46:14

gamers that seem like to me are the ones that play the

46:16

enthusiast gamers and play the party

46:18

games 80- Mhmm. -- and can find

46:20

different enjoyment you know, from both

46:22

of those. And one that comes to mind real

46:24

quick, one I have never had a

46:26

problem with with a larger group

46:28

is school. SCOLL is one of those games. You talk about games

46:30

July. This is one of those games where there is

46:32

nothing quite as entertaining.

46:34

Having one of

46:36

your friends BID that they can turn over five cards,

46:38

successfully turn over four, and then turn

46:40

over the fifth card, which is the one on top of your

46:42

stack, which you know was

46:44

a skull. You turn that over the

46:46

whole rumor rips even though it's the

46:48

fiftieth time it's happened that

46:49

night. Everybody just loves it.

46:52

That's a great party game. I love the

46:54

party game trophies. Trophy

46:56

is such a simple simple concept. As a matter of

46:58

fact, you could play the game without, you know,

47:02

without having the deck of cards, but it's easier cut with it.

47:04

Essentially, it's like a deck of cards that have

47:06

letters on them, and you pull out a

47:08

category and say like,

47:10

okay, movies. Movie titles.

47:12

And you draw a card and hold it up, and

47:14

the the the card will have like a

47:16

j on it. And somebody has to yell out

47:18

a movie title that begins with j.

47:20

You draw another card. And another card. And another card. It's just going around

47:22

the room, screaming out words that

47:25

have that letter as the

47:27

they're starting letter. And you think

47:29

it sounds silly until you get in the

47:32

midst of it with all the people screaming in

47:34

Holland and trying to jump in and then you

47:36

get one that's really hard. And you can't figure

47:38

it out. And that letter just keeps coming

47:40

back through the deck. And everybody's thinking

47:42

like, there'll be a

47:44

moment when I come up with that movie title that

47:46

starts with that letter. And finally, someone

47:48

hollers it out. It's such a

47:50

raucous game and I enjoy it so much

47:52

simple

47:52

concept, but boy, is it a fun party

47:54

game? I have a slew of games that I'm just

47:56

gonna, like, list them off and

47:58

you can look them up. But these these

48:00

games fall in the category

48:03

to me where you're

48:06

trying to get people to guess

48:08

a word or a

48:10

phrase and The majority of the time has spent making fun of

48:12

people for not being able to guess

48:14

it. And I'm thinking

48:18

and Jamie you and your wife, thank

48:20

you for introducing this to

48:22

me. Heads up is one.

48:24

That's that's

48:26

an app. That you can get on pretty much any mobile device. You

48:28

put the word on your forehead.

48:30

Right? Yeah. Misterium,

48:32

I think is one. I always get made fun

48:34

of. Because people can't

48:36

guess what I'm doing. So Clover,

48:39

just one. Those games

48:41

I think are fantastic

48:43

because not only can it kind of integrate

48:45

the people that are actually playing the game? But you can

48:48

also integrate the people that are kind of

48:50

doing other

48:52

things. I don't remember how many times I've been playing just one and

48:54

said, if you looked at this, how

48:56

could you not get this

48:58

word? And we just

49:00

This should be called new friends to pick.

49:03

Solo games because we feel like

49:05

he's playing a different game than everybody else.

49:07

I'll buy him the fruit.

49:08

You know what? Some

49:10

of my

49:11

favorite games that you can play

49:13

at a party are

49:15

games that you do not have to be

49:18

you don't have to have, like, a board or anything like

49:20

that, you know. And I think trophies

49:22

is one of them that I suggested

49:25

earlier, but insider is another one. But I think it's

49:27

such a great -- Very good. -- for a

49:29

party because you can be, you know, cooking. You could

49:31

be over there, cooking. While the

49:33

rest of the your friends are sitting around the the

49:35

the island there in your kitchen and you're

49:37

playing insider, and you as the the person

49:40

cooking can be involved

49:42

playing too, without being at the

49:43

table. Right? Trophy's works like that too, and I think that's just great

49:45

for a party environment. I'm gonna throw

49:47

one out here that I

49:50

have had a lot of fun at parties.

49:52

It's very engaging and there

49:54

are a lot of options for different

49:56

types of games to play and I

49:59

stinkly love playing this game with Don because it always

50:02

ends up being very

50:04

inappropriate. That is any

50:06

of

50:07

the jackpot games.

50:08

True. You you essentially

50:11

just need a device that you

50:13

can write or draw on and a

50:15

screen that everybody can see with the categories and

50:17

stuff

50:17

are. It's well produced. You can get

50:19

it on pretty much

50:22

any online like

50:25

platform. It is

50:28

wonderful. And Don always

50:31

ends up either drawing or saying

50:33

the most inappropriate

50:34

things. Well,

50:35

I mean, hey.

50:36

Listen now. We were at Origins one year.

50:39

Matt

50:39

Evans from board game replay

50:42

had this on his iPad, and

50:44

he and he sent it up to the

50:46

TV that was in the lobby, essentially. So the the the hotel

50:48

at Origins, the second floor is where

50:50

everybody games. And it's like there's a

50:52

stairs that goes right

50:54

up to the second floor

50:56

from the lobby, like a big staircase.

50:58

Right? So it's basically like we're in the lobby

51:00

playing this game cast up to the

51:02

big screen that's on in this

51:04

lobby area. And here, this is the only time in my entire

51:06

life that I thought if the

51:08

wrong person walks into this room, the secret

51:10

ball is going to crash and burn, and I would no

51:12

longer have a job. Because

51:14

Don's drawing pictures of genitalia

51:16

all over the screens in

51:18

the sloppy in this

51:20

hotel. No. Now if you if

51:22

you saw it and you thought it was gonna tell you.

51:23

That's all you. That ain't all me,

51:25

man. I will

51:28

say this. So this was actually because

51:30

they were playing it. I wasn't playing this game. I was actually playing a

51:32

game of SpectreOps. Oh, no. Like, at the

51:35

long table on the other end. And I saw him pull

51:37

it up. I'd never played it before, but

51:40

I figured out what they were doing. And so I sort of logged in on my phone

51:42

certitiously. And they're like, well, who

51:44

is this person? Nobody knew who it was.

51:47

But Sonny was there turned drawn. I started drawing

51:49

stuff, and Matt Evans fell out of his

51:51

seat. Oh, yeah. He

51:54

was losing it. It's one

51:56

of those things where it

51:58

just draws people who aren't even

52:00

playing into the game.

52:02

Right. Well, that's a lot of fun. And I tell and that is a good one when you're at a party because you

52:04

can just throw it up on your TV and play some

52:06

jack box. And I'll tell you one more sort of

52:08

along the same lines of being a rock is a

52:09

good time

52:12

real quick. And that is a happy salmon. This

52:14

was such the way

52:15

to take this game. The only bad

52:17

thing about this

52:18

game is that no one else can play a game within

52:21

a mile Exactly. While

52:22

this is going on, because this isn't a

52:24

loudest thing. If you wanna watch six

52:26

to eight idiots, stand around a

52:28

table, slapping hands in twenty seven different ways and running

52:30

around like a bunch crazy people. That's

52:32

the game. I still have a video

52:36

that's on our YouTube channel. It's unlisted at this point.

52:38

Of me and Don, I'm not

52:40

playing. I have the camera. Don

52:42

and a bunch of other

52:44

of our friends are playing happy salmon in my basement. And

52:46

it's loud. It's like bang bang. Yo. Hit it dead

52:48

the rock. Go. Oh. That's like top five roll

52:50

screaming as hot as

52:52

I can. And then I've panned

52:54

the camera over. And here is

52:56

Chris and Rob Ross from

52:58

Blue Pig, Pink Pay, and some other guys

53:00

trying to play Guilds of London, a Euro

53:02

at the table. And all look like somebody

53:04

just kicked their

53:05

puppy.

53:06

Yeah. We all just like Right

53:08

on the outside of the group, guys.

53:10

Great. Now think about the irony here. Right?

53:12

You got Rob Rausch sitting at the table, being quiet. And a lot of other

53:14

people were jumped around and had you say, man,

53:16

yep. It's the one time in life of Rob

53:18

Rausch. Be like, man, those guys are too

53:22

loud. I say that with complete love

53:24

for my buddy, Ralph. Alright, Alf. Let's

53:26

get

53:26

to the last category here. Let's

53:30

do it. I write in one last category,

53:32

one more to go. And

53:34

this one is the last

53:36

gift that you always open on

53:38

Christmas morning. After

53:40

you've opened all the big stuff under the tree, all the

53:42

kitties run over to the hop,

53:44

and they yank the cycle for

53:47

the I place and they dump it out all over

53:49

the floor. There's a stocking stuffers.

53:52

What kind of games would

53:54

make

53:55

absolutely great. Stocking stuff as you guys know

53:57

all about it? Well,

53:59

if anybody has the same problem I

54:02

have every year, it's trying to figure

54:04

you can always think a big presence. I'm

54:06

trying to figure out good stuff to

54:08

put in the stocking. That's right. Right? Oh,

54:10

it's so annoying, but there are a ton of

54:12

games. We have a really decent list

54:15

of stuff to put on here for for

54:17

that'll fit in the

54:18

stocking. I think this is my

54:20

favorite category as a matter of fact.

54:22

Because

54:22

I think I think that tiny games that pack

54:25

a big punch in gameplay

54:27

and they're usually really, really

54:29

inexpensive as well. Are

54:31

some of the coolest games you can find. When I go to

54:33

a convention, I'm always looking for the

54:36

small box. The small box is

54:38

always the treasure. Right? You're looking at

54:40

the the the weird little boos in the

54:42

back corners, the role playing

54:44

game boos that have a couple of

54:46

card games in them. You never heard of

54:48

them before. And those are

54:50

the hidden gems that you always find at the

54:52

conventions and those are great

54:54

stocking

54:54

stuffers. Yeah. And, you know,

54:57

just gonna get this out of the way

54:59

because it's obvious. Yeah. Pretty much any

55:01

of the tiny epic, whatever's

55:03

-- Yeah. --

55:04

right? There's a ton of them. They'll fit

55:06

in the stocking. And although There's a

55:08

big game in a small box. That's for

55:10

sure. And and, like, let's talk about one

55:12

specific that if you don't own

55:15

any tiny epic games, I recommend you

55:17

get tiny epic galaxies. That game

55:20

for that's what I was gonna

55:21

say. Specific one, I

55:24

think, approaches Glory to Roman quality. Wow. Yeah.

55:25

80 is a big

55:27

big Cold statement. Right?

55:29

That's endorsement. They gonna say that's

55:31

a Jamie

55:32

cagey. World

55:34

class endorsement. Yeah. And it's what I always

55:35

forget about, which is weird. I never think about

55:38

it, but boy, is it ever good? I'll

55:40

tell you one that we haven't talked about it for a

55:42

while, but It

55:44

was the jam for a while and remains

55:46

a really good game, especially for stockings

55:48

coverage. And that is the mind --

55:49

Yeah. -- because it allows you to have the

55:51

players to sit at a table

55:53

and try to read each other's minds. And it's kind of

55:56

amazing over the course of tether games. You kinda

55:58

get on the same wavelength as each other.

56:00

Yeah. And that's a really

56:02

cool little sort of a a morale building experience, I should say,

56:04

right, when you play that game because you you're

56:06

gradually getting in sync with everybody else

56:08

around the

56:08

board. And I think calling it the mind

56:11

is such a clever thing because it's not about

56:13

mind reading at all. Really? I mean, the

56:16

thematically kind of is sort of well, actually, no. Thematically,

56:18

it's about Bunnies and and

56:20

Ninja Stars. know

56:22

that is like that. It's named the

56:24

mind because when you play

56:26

it 2346

56:28

times, you start to feel

56:30

like you're reading the player's minds

56:32

because you're reading body language and

56:34

learning how to play cards in the

56:36

proper order. I think that's such Cool

56:38

cool game, man. I do have some recommendations here as

56:41

well. Chris mentioned the tiny epic games

56:43

as like a line of games that could

56:45

be great for stocking stuffers. I

56:47

want to recommend Oink Games.

56:50

Oink games are even smaller than

56:52

tiny epic games, and Oink games

56:55

are beautiful, Chris. You know, Insider.

56:58

We love Insider. Insider

57:00

is an Oint game. All of

57:02

the games come in that

57:04

size box. Another one that I

57:06

would highly recommend is a

57:08

fake artist goes to New York.

57:10

This is a

57:12

fantastic game in which you have this little pad of

57:14

paper and you you

57:16

get a clue. It's

57:18

kinda like insider in a way where you get a

57:20

clue. Alright. This

57:22

is what we're trying to draw here. But one person doesn't get

57:24

the clue. And you and what

57:26

you do is you take the pad of paper and you draw

57:28

one piece of the picture and then pass

57:30

the paper. The next person draws

57:32

the next piece of the thing and then passes

57:34

it. And only one person doesn't know what

57:36

they're drawing. And by the end, you have to

57:38

figure out who is the person that didn't know what they

57:40

were drawing. And what's fantastic about it is some people get

57:42

accused because they just can't

57:44

draw. They can't figure

57:46

out how to draw a duck bill. And you're like, well,

57:48

that's definitely not

57:50

a duck Bill. So it's much You're the fake artist than that it It's

57:52

somebody else. It's such a good game.

57:54

And, of course, one that I just

57:56

discovered at Pax unplugged this week

58:00

is scout, which is an

58:01

incredible ladder climbing game and that's all I'll say

58:04

about it. It's incredible. You have to get

58:06

scout and stuff it in your sock

58:08

for

58:08

Christmas. I wanna

58:10

toss one more game on here,

58:12

which I thought looked insanely

58:14

stupid. I thought it was

58:17

gonna be It's just a lousy game. Yeah.

58:20

That is -- Oh, yeah. -- mouse,

58:22

cheese, cat, cucumber. Oh,

58:24

great. It comes in a

58:26

little tiny box. It's got all these

58:28

cards. You're laying out a maze.

58:30

Each person of the four

58:32

people gets a

58:34

different

58:35

role, whether it's one of those mouse, mouse, cheese, cat,

58:38

cucumber. Do you have a different way of

58:40

winning? I

58:41

wanna play the

58:42

cucumber. Uh-huh. I said, I wanna

58:43

play the cucumber, Chris. II0,

58:46

good. You can. I hate being

58:50

the cucumber. But you're you're

58:52

essentially manipulating this maze

58:54

to try and and

58:58

and and manage it so that you can

59:00

meet your own individual

59:02

winning condition. It's just

59:04

very interactive. It's very thinky

59:08

all in this tiny little box. It is wonderful. It

59:10

is It's a it's a wonderful

59:12

game. Well, if

59:13

we're talking about wonderful games,

59:16

I would be remiss if I did not bring up cockroach, poker.

59:18

That's a great one. This is a game

59:20

that I play constantly

59:22

with my in laws. They

59:25

absolutely love it. And this is a game

59:27

that has absolutely almost no game to it

59:29

at all. You get a heck a deck

59:31

of cards that's got tons of animals in

59:34

it. They're rats. Bat, cockroaches,

59:36

stink bugs, you know you

59:38

know frogs, stuff like that,

59:41

all horrible animals. And What you do is you

59:43

get a hand of those cards, you put one of those cards face down to the table,

59:45

you slide it across to your opponent, you say,

59:47

that's a frog. And that person

59:49

is supposed to look

59:52

at you and either agree with you, yeah, I think that's a frog and pass

59:54

the car to another player, or

59:56

they have to call you on your bullshit and say

59:58

that is not a frog, flip

1:00:00

it over, and then you see if it

1:00:02

was a frog or not. So it's a game about lying with absolutely no context.

1:00:04

It's all about looking at a per

1:00:07

sitting in the eye and lying straight to their face and seeing if you

1:00:09

can get away with it. And of course, if you

1:00:12

get four of the

1:00:14

same creature, you're out of that game.

1:00:16

And it's one of those games which I always find this absolutely fantastic, is

1:00:18

there's one loser and everybody

1:00:21

else wins. There's nothing pointing at that one

1:00:24

person and say, yeah, the

1:00:26

only loser. So

1:00:29

another game that Jamie loves about

1:00:32

lying that I will never

1:00:34

play because I'm terrible.

1:00:36

Absolutely,

1:00:37

Chris. Well, I tell you, it isn't as as

1:00:39

hard to lie in this game as you think

1:00:41

it is. Because it's such a quick lie. You

1:00:43

slide it over, you just say, that's

1:00:45

a frog. We've played cockroach poachers Poker

1:00:48

so much that we have started to develop

1:00:50

weird ways and making odd

1:00:52

faces and describing the

1:00:55

animal in a weird way and, like, we've just

1:00:57

tried every way of lying possible and every

1:00:59

way of telling the truth and making them

1:01:01

think we're lying possible. The more you play

1:01:03

it, the more fun it becomes, just like the mine

1:01:05

does. So I highly recommend grabbing cockroach poke

1:01:07

and jamiting

1:01:09

in that sock. And as a final

1:01:11

one, I'll just a classic just because I think it deserves to be mentioned in this, you know,

1:01:14

the stocking

1:01:16

stuffer category. And

1:01:18

that is love letter. I mentioned this because it's been a it's been

1:01:20

a few years ago that it came out, but it was

1:01:22

amazing. And as I recall, it had won the

1:01:24

designer had won a a contest about

1:01:27

you a game with, you know, just I think

1:01:30

it's sixteen cards. They were

1:01:32

limited. Maybe it's nine cards. I can't even remember at

1:01:34

this point. But in

1:01:36

any case, when I heard there

1:01:38

was a game that was just this many cards I thought there is no way this is possible

1:01:40

and played it to find

1:01:43

a fun little game

1:01:46

that was surprisingly, I won't say I don't wanna

1:01:48

say deep. That's probably just too strong at work,

1:01:50

but it was very enjoyable. And

1:01:52

it fits in a little bag.

1:01:54

I do agree with

1:01:55

I you're It is surprisingly deep for having eight

1:01:58

cards. It's eight cards. It's

1:02:00

surprisingly deep for eight cards. You

1:02:01

know, it's not

1:02:04

like you know, twilight imperium deep. It's not through the ages

1:02:06

deep. But for eight cards, it's surprisingly deep.

1:02:08

That's it. A good way of putting

1:02:12

it. Yeah. And the nice thing about

1:02:14

this game is it has been reprinted

1:02:16

with so many different

1:02:18

Yes. That

1:02:20

you could find something to put in that stocking

1:02:23

that fits whoever you're filling

1:02:25

the stocking for -- Rick and

1:02:26

Morty. -- and Lauren and Natalie.

1:02:30

It's a great

1:02:31

game. Yeah. Well, Dan King would

1:02:33

disagree with you that Monopoly is a bad game. He

1:02:35

just did a whole video

1:02:38

on why you're wrong for thinking monopolies a bad game.

1:02:40

And I think you should watch it, Chris, because

1:02:42

you might you might be a convert.

1:02:46

Uh-huh. Look

1:02:48

on Chris' face tells me he wants to

1:02:50

stuff me in a sack.

1:02:54

Well, you what, Alf. I hope that helps you and I hope

1:02:56

it helps Santa get the

1:02:58

gifts to the right people this

1:03:00

holiday

1:03:00

season. Well, I gotta tell you,

1:03:03

Jamie. I'm so happy. You know Chris and Don have been such an

1:03:05

immense up to Santa Claus and

1:03:07

you know that all of

1:03:09

these cabal sat there. All of the people on Santa's list

1:03:11

are gonna be getting a bunch of these cool

1:03:13

games, stuff in the sock, wrap the

1:03:16

fun. They're gonna be ripping them open and having a

1:03:18

great time. A Christmas day and an a. Maybe some

1:03:20

mama Christmas out there and get some of these

1:03:22

games for himself a little bit of a

1:03:24

Christmas

1:03:25

present to themselves before Christmas. Hey, nothing wrong with

1:03:28

that. Right. Christmas, you do that all the time.

1:03:30

Heck, no,

1:03:32

man. That's

1:03:35

I actually got a

1:03:37

fun Christmas present this week and it was

1:03:39

from mister Tom Vassil of The DICE Tower. I was

1:03:41

at packs unplugged and we were standing by

1:03:43

the dice tower booth, and we were chatting away about, you know, podcast and stuff. And

1:03:45

Tom said, yeah, yeah, I still listen to the podcast

1:03:48

every week, and he was talking about this and that and

1:03:50

the different things

1:03:52

we talk about the goofy stuff we're doing, and he said to me

1:03:54

at what point? He goes, and I

1:03:56

tell you one of my favorite things

1:03:58

about listening into your

1:04:00

show is that week after week, I get to

1:04:02

listen to Chris' slow

1:04:04

descent

1:04:05

into madness. I'll take it. It has occasionally

1:04:08

accelerated.

1:04:08

Proud of it. Alright,

1:04:10

Kabbalists. Well, thank

1:04:11

you so much for joining us here on

1:04:14

these. The

1:04:16

first Express episode in a full year. Come on

1:04:18

back next week because we got

1:04:20

the absolutely fantastic. Why

1:04:24

Crazy bananas, domestic,

1:04:26

wild and crazy Christmas

1:04:28

episode. I'm the secret cabal.

1:04:31

Gaming podcasts. Good night,

1:04:34

everybody. Good night, and Merry

1:04:35

Christmas. Have happy holidays.

1:04:38

Have a good one. Merry

1:04:40

Christmas cabela's. Good night.